


Hands Tied In Strings

by Lawfuless



Series: Creepy Night Tale [1]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's, Slender (Video Game), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Chara Swearing, Doomed Timelines, Magical Accidents, Saving the World, Timeline Shenanigans, Virus, accidental injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-07-12 00:26:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7076929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lawfuless/pseuds/Lawfuless
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gaster, Slenderman, and Marionette find out there's a virus coming to destroy their world. They intend to combine powers to stop it. Except things go south.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I only own the idea.

He felt the tendril slithering over his collarbone and his shuddered, turning away from the feeling. A second later, it returned, with another on the other side. Suddenly, he was being jerked upwards. He flailed a bit as he was held in the air, eyes widening.

He was face to... Well, not face. A head without a features was before him. A pale, slender, male figure stood before him in a suit, black tendrils curling behind him. "Who are you?" A voice asked in his head.

Holding up a pair of holey hands, the scientist shook his head. "D-Doctor W. D. Gaster. Previous Royal Scientist of the Underground. Wh-who are-" "What is this 'Underground'?" "...It's erm, a massive underground location that monsters were banished to and imprisoned in when they lost the war against humans."

The figure slowly nodded, seemingly accepting that. "...I am Slenderman. I brought you here to my world as I require your assistance." A second figure appeared out of the trees. It was a bit shorter than the Slenderman. It had a face like a mask, two eye holes with pinpricks of light illuminating it's face. It had bright red cheeks, and a pair of red lips, but also a set of what seemed to be purple tears. It had stripes on it's arms and legs and had buttons up it's front.

"Oh. Another one. Matching colour scheme, too." It joked in a smooth, masculine voice. Gaster was set down, and he quickly flushed as he realized he wasn't wearing a shirt. He opened his inventory and equipped his turtleneck and long black coat, looking aside as the purple glowed on his cheeks. "Isn't he cute-- Now, what did you need?"

Slenderman gestured to them. "Marionette, Gaster, I have need of your skills. Your power, and your magic. Combining our powers is our only chance to save our worlds...... But first I'll explain what's going on." The being led them through the trees, then waved his hand, showing three separate screens. Each had a horrifying looking red creature running through and destroying the world.

"This is a virus. It's eating away at the universe, and it's heading towards us. As you two were the easiest to contact, I summoned you here, in an effort to save our worlds. ...So, will you help?" he asked. After a moment, Gaster nodded, and Marionette agreed as well.

"Then, shall we?" Gaster lifted his hands, eyes glowing purple. Slenderman summoned his power, static crackling around him. The Marionette floated and glowed. Together, they summoned forth their power before them, and combined it, creating a protective block. But soon after, the creation fizzled, and they were hit by a blast of energy.

Slowly opening his eyes, he climbed to his feet in the sudde black abyss. He was taller. And everything seemed to be brighter. He looked himself over, and felt sudden dread. A black suit with a turtleneck. Then his face shifted, and he had to reach up to stop it from falling. He worried that his head fell off, but he could see it was still there. Except it was mostly blank, albeit somewhat skeletal. He was holding his face. He put it on, feeling the panic of three different people as he summoned a mirror.

They had become combined.

As much as he wanted to panic, especially when he realized that their worlds had been destroyed in the combination, each came to realize that the virus was still out there. So, putting aside their feelings, they headed towards where they could sense it's presence.

No other worlds would suffer the same fate. 


	2. A Promise For Protection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The shifting of the worlds makes things... uncertain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing but the idea of 'The String Puller'  
> Warning: This chapter used Bold, Italics and Underline.... uh, a lot?  
> Bold and Italics is Marionette  
> Underline and Italics is Slenderman  
> Italics is Gaster  
> All three is... well, all three.

' _Where.... are we?_ ' They wondered as they slowly rose to their full height. Before them, a strange but frightening silhouette. They could recognize it. ' _That's Us_.' Slenderman helpfully pointed out. Gaster hummed his mental assent and Marionette tilted their head. ' _ **Why is their leg like that?**_ ' The Puppet questioned.

" _ **You must be curious. About the leg. I was too, at first.**_ " The figure stated, stepping forwards, metallic leg first. It was more of a jagged hunk of metal haphazardly jammed on where the foot would have been. " ** _Distracts from the hand, until I mentioned it._** " They added. A set of long claws replaced the hand, seemingly strapped where the hand would be, something of the wrist evidently remaining. " _ **You'll get in a fight. A bad one. The virus will corrupt you, and this is the only option that stops it. Soul-forged items. Made from souls, dust, magic, and a lot of hate. You'll find the weaponer several universes from now. As is, however, you are in the Underswap universe. Try to stay hidden. If you are seen- a bad timeline- it will not end up well for anyone. Make like a tree and leaf as soon as that happens. If it does. Time... is funny.**_ " The being scratched it's head, then shook it, mask loosening ever so slightly. There seemed to be something under the mask, and they felt an immense dread. " _You're going to lose your face._ " They explained in a soft voice, tapping the mask. " _It will be unpleasant, but you will understand it needs to be done. The Weaponer demanded it. It's a small price to pay for being helped._ " They adjust their mask, and the sensation goes away. " ** _The virus is here. It is also hiding. We cannot tell you where, but you WILL find it. The battle will be interrupted and you will be upset. But this needs to happen._** " " _ **You'll understand in time.**_ "

" _How do_ _we--_ " Gaster began, then cut himself off. ' _Oh. Oh that's... Disconcerting._ ' " _ **You will find your voice in time.**_ " The Marionette in the other sounded sympathetic. Theirs almost scoffed at that mental note. ' _ **You remind me of the lost children, Gaster. That is where the concern stems from and nothing more.**_ ' They rolled their eyes, a dual effort from the other two. " _So... err... do we ever..._ " The other nodded, slowly. " _You will separate. Briefly. But it will be painful. You will regret it. You will vow to never do so again, and as far as my timeline goes, you do not ever do so again._ " ' ** _We're stuck like this?_** _'_   " _It is time for us to leave... But your journey begins here. We will be with you when we can._ " The voice was even softer than before. Faint, barely there. Then they turned, clawed hand ripping open a hole through the world to open a path to the void. They stepped in, vanishing. The rip seemed to sew itself back up, and they were left wondering what happened. 

' _We should get hiding. This is the trail the human usually takes when they enter the Underground._ ' They moved easily through the snow, long legs making it easy to avoid being trapped. They slipped into the trees, and then the Slenderman took over, seamlessly hiding them. It was, after all, his domain within the trees. They watched as a human showed up, heading down the path. They followed silently until they saw the skeleton talking to the human. Then another, smaller skeleton arrived. They chatted, then the smaller one ran off and the human soon followed. Then the taller skeleton looked to the trees, eye glowing orange. He could see them. Startling, Gaster forced them to turn and Marionette clawed a hole through the code while Slenderman forced them through, all moving in sync to get them out far quicker than if only one mind had been in control.

They waited in the void for awhile before sighing. ' _That was odd. Has that one always been able to_ See _like that?_ ' ' _Not in my timeline, but everything is reversed here so... Yes. I would presume so. He cannot follow us here, that I know of. But I would be careful.... Since we are here, though, we should look at the code. Now that I know where we are, I should be able to find where the anomaly would be._ ' They obliged him and relinquished control, watching as he smoothly operated the darkness to his whims and forced it to display itself for all to see. ' _ **There**_ _ **.**_ ' They could see the red erratic code that made up the virus. But it wouldn't be that simple. They had to cage it before they could get rid of it.

It was in Waterfall. They appeared from the shadows, from a grey door in a chunk of hallway that shouldn't have existed. For them, it did. They moved towards it, and saw it. It loomed before the human, ready to consume. But hands launched from the ground, clawing into the virus to hold it. It shrieked, turning on them. As they rushed it, they felt an odd moment where they were briefly glitched, then they jerked to an abrupt stop. The Virus was gone, leaving only warped code. The Marionette growled, wrapping their claws around the strings of code that caused the glitching and strung it back together. They drew back, only to recall a moment too late that the human was still there. As was the skeleton from before.

"you look like him. have his face. but you aren't really, are ya?" The skeleton asked. They felt Gaster move to speak, only to pause, conflicted. The emotion flickered across the mask, then they simply nodded. They turned, ready to open another hole. "hold on a moment. that thing didn't belong here. you're chasing it, right? ...can you give us a way to contact you? i know a somebody who knows a lot of somebodies who can alert you if they find that thing."

They paused, weighing the pros and cons and mentally arguing. Finally, Gaster turned them around and pulled lines of unused code from the void, repurposing it and creating a jet black pager from it. He tossed it over, and it was deftly caught. The child looked mildly traumatized as Papyrus moved closer and knelt, wrapping an arm around them. "thanks. but you should leave. lest anything happen to one of the other places."

They nodded and then proceeded to rip open the code to enter. They then sewed it cleanly back up behind them, leaving no trace of previous existence. Dimly, their consciousness of the realm faded, with the last memory of it being a faint 'let's head to Muffet's' before they were attuned only to the void.

Their next location was of a similar vibe. An abandoned restaurant where there were humans instead of animatronic animals. The only exception being the Marionette, who seemed to be something of a lycanthrope type. An animal pretending it was human, instead of something human-like attempting to be more like it's animatronic relatives. They were pointed to where the nightguard was, and it only took a bit of prodding from the hapless animal to find the creature. It once more fled, and they gave chase, this time quicker managing to follow it directly through several alternate universes before it turned on them.

The fight was vicious, and even though they came out the better, they were still suffering as they stumbled through the void, the malignant code still assaulting their leg and fingers, working its way up. They fell through another portal, losing their face and ability to see. All was blissfully black as they faded out of consciousness and retreated from responsibility.

When they awoke they were on an operating table, familiar steel glimmering where their leg and hand used to be. They stifled a curse and slowly sat up. Their face fell off and they grabbed it blindly, raising it to their face. They almost screamed at the terror and hastily turned the mask, tying it back onto their face as quick as they could with one hand. It was sloppy and it almost fell. They clawed themselves in the face a few times before they stabilized it. Enough to realize they were no longer alone.

They watched as a teenager came over to them, brown hair pulled back into a small ponytail as red eyes peered at them. One was human, the other was robotic. Part of their face looked skeletal, but made of metal. They shuddered unintentionally. "You're awake... and afraid. Good. You should be. I'm the person who fixed you... but also the person who can destroy you. If it weren't for US Paps, I would have ended you as soon as you were on my doorstep. But he and Ink INSISTED you live. So I brought you in and fixed you up. Real shit work, but you'll live." They stated gruffly, eyes narrowed. "Now... Let me fix that." They jerked back as a metal hand reached for their face. But then they felt the warm spreading on their cheek and released their claw from their face, letting it sag a bit. The human fixed their face and tied it properly in place. "There. ...Now, get up. I need to see if there's anything that will stop me from kicking you out now."

They stood up, shaky on their bad leg. "...Not too shabby. ...Try walking around. Tell me if anything feels off." " ** _Everything._** " They spoke in unison, but the teenager snorted. "You're the one who tussled with the freaky code shit. You deal with the consequences. Now, since you're well enough to complain.... Get the fuck out of my workplace."

They stumbled through a hasty portal, stitching loosely with one hand before Gaster turned to magic. There was throbbing pain on their face, from three claw marks left by their not-hand when they had fumbled their face, but the three could cope as the purple and black magic finely zipped the whole thing closed. Then they began walking until they found a good location to exit. They did so, and were met by themself again.

" _ **You found the weaponer then? ...Good. Sooner than we had too. You are doing exceedingly well. It will not be for much longer that--**_ " " _Why don't you have the scars?_ " Gaster interrupted, waving at their face. The other fell silent. " _And why don't you tell us anything actually useful, instead of making us dread it?_ " Their anger was rising. " ** _You come from a doomed timeline, don't you?_** " The other fell silent, then shockingly faded away. They inhaled sharply, looking around. Then a hand touched their shoulder. They jumped. There they were again. This one whole. " _I'm sorry for the deceit of that one. We only mean well. Those who fail end up in the void until they find the current Alpha. You are it. Unless you deviate from the path, you will remain so. We have agreed to show up to warn you of certain events, but we can't directly influence you, lest we push you to one timeline or another. You understand?_ "

" _No! We don't! Because you never explained anything! None of us did! I never wanted this! I never asked for this! I want out!_ " And Gaster shoved at their bond. He shoved, and shoved, until it faded away. The other being recoiled in horror. They began to separate, but each was heavily injured and glitching.... neither worse than the third... Gaster. He screamed, briefly as his soul cracked under pressure. Then the other being threw out it's hands, clawed tendrils grabbing them and magic sewing their code back together until they were whole again.

" _...I had hoped... You wouldn't have to.... God... I am sorry._ " The pain of watching yourself shatter must have been tough, from the other's expression. Then they too faded away, this one looking more of a retreat than the last. They waited even after the other beings had been good a while to piece themselves back together. To return to union. But it was difficult. Gaster was barely there anymore, faded and flickering. His soul was in pieces, held together by strings and tendrils and the black goop of the void. His hands moved in signing when attempting to talk, but neither could understand well enough to replay. Eventually he retreated from consciousness, leaving the two to take control while he recovered.

They were in silence a moment longer before blue strings streaked through the air, attempting to hook them. But they flickered and vanished, reappearing a bit away. " ~~So, you're the new one. The funny one. The damn dirty glitch that gets in everyone's way....~~ " The figure was odd, but looked like the short skeleton they had met before. This one was inverted in colour it seemed and he was glitching like crazy. Not their mark, however, so they dropped the defensive pose and brushed themself off before turning to leave. " ~~HEY! I'm NOT DONE WITH YOU!~~ " The skeleton lashed out with Gaster Blasters and strings. But he dodged easily, with such grace it was as if he'd barely moved, form seeming to shimmer. " _We have more important things on our hands._ " " _ **So stay out of our way, little glitchy one.**_ " They dismissed the figure, ripping open another hole and leaping through, closing it with precise movements as the strings surged forwards. But they would meet empty space, the being having left.

Then they felt it. The virus. It was near. They rushed after, warping the void to be where it was. They lashed out with clawed arm and magic, ripping into it. They had tendrils grapple it and they weaved the code around it into a net, keeping it from leaving. Finally, Gaster managed to drag himself forwards and toyed with the void's code until they found it. The red code. The virus struggled, but they erased it piece by piece until nothing remained. Then the being sagged as their motive was finally driven from them. "... **We did it.**   ** _We really did it._** _We lost so much to get this far...._ **But it's done now.**   _ **We're.... done.**_ " ' _No. Not yet. Our worlds... they're gone. Destroyed. We started this to save them... we should end this by rebuilding them._ " " _But what would we do? Combine parts and pieces? Like us?_   _ **Play god?**  _" " _Combine, yes, but not play god. No... Play... protector. Enforcer. Create beings who will protect, as we will. Take care of these universes as we would._ "

" _ **Create our own Alternate Universe...? From scratch.... To protect from the viruses.... Yes. We shall do this. We shall create this. And we will lead it.**_ "

They began weaving the code, slowly, but then with more confidence as all three began to function in unison. Their future was uncertain, but they would go into the unknown proudly. After all... V.I.P.E.R. was still unfinished. And the Viral-Infection Prevention and Engagement Retinue would change things, like it or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so, this seems to be it for now. If anyone is interested in the other characters that will make up the V.I.P.E.R. team, I can always try to expand on the idea, as well as take suggestions. They will, however, have to be a mix of three characters from each of the fandoms. I.E. 'Gaster + Slenderman + Marionette'. In the case of Slenderman, Slender family and other Creepypasta characters will probably have to be taken into account.... But yeah, that's it for now.  
> https://postimg.org/image/hwrtvdc2n/ An updated and better image of The String Puller. Made with Heromachine because wow do I suck at paint.

**Author's Note:**

> So, New AU!  
> I call him 'The String Puller'. I'll figure out something better. But yeah.  
> If enough people like this, I'll make an ask blog or something.


End file.
